New mechanism to tackle banking hacks in the works

nNEW DELHI: The government is in the process of setting up a system to secure the country’s financial sector from cyber attacks after agencies pointed to its vulnerability due to the increase in number of digital transactions over the past few months on account of Covid-19, and threats from hostile countries such as China and Pakistan, three officials aware of the plans said.

At present, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-in) deals with all types of cyber security threats but officials in the administration have been discussing the need for a specialised agency, which could be called Cert-fin, the officials said.

“The government may set up a Computer Emergency Response Team for Financial Sector (Certfin)... but a final decision is awaited as the government wants to take a comprehensive view of cyber security” a second official said.

A third official said cyber security, in general, tops the government’s agenda since it can disrupt social and political harmony and dislocate financial systems.

According to the proposal under consideration, Cert-fin will draw expertise from various financial sector agencies such as the ministry of corporate affairs , the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, and the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited, among others.

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for admitting to its fold some people who took part in the Shaheen Bagh anti-citizenship (Amendment) Act protest, which, it alleged, had been planned by the BJP to polarise the electorate ahead of the February assembly polls. It also accused the BJP of engineering the communal violence later that month.

At a digital press conference, AAP’S chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned the BJP, which heads the Central government, and Delhi Police, which reports to the Centre, as to how they allowed the protest to continue for 101 days when other protests in the city are not allowed to last even three hours.

The BJP termed the claims baseless. “Their allegations have no meaning…” said Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta.